Abstract

This paper provides a historical background of women’s representation on Indian corporate boards. It studies directory lists for benchmark years of the past century and other sources, to ascertain the trends and challenges over time. Women directors comprised less than 1% of all directors in the 200 leading firms of India until the 1990s, after which the share rose to 2% by 2000 and 5% in 2010. Due to a regulatory push in 2013, women’s representation on the boards of listed firms rose above 16% in 2019. The sharp reduction in board interlocks over time and the rise of public sector units, especially in banking, are some of the factors highlighted in bringing about more gender diversity in Indian corporate boardrooms before 2013. However, the principal mechanism through which women entered corporate boardrooms in India was through family ties, bound within specific castes and communities.

摘要

本文提供了女性在印度公司董事会中的代表性的历史背景。它研究上世纪基准年份和其他来源的目录列表，以确定随着时间的推移的趋势和挑战。直到 1990 年代，女性董事在印度 200 家领先公司的所有董事中所占比例不到 1%，之后这一比例在 2000 年和 2010 年分别上升到 2% 和 5%。由于 2013 年的监管推动，董事会中的女性代表的上市公司在 2019 年增长超过 16%。随着时间的推移，董事会联锁的急剧减少和公共部门单位的崛起，尤其是银行业，是 2013 年之前在印度公司董事会中实现更多性别多样性的一些突出因素。然而，女性进入印度公司董事会的主要机制是通过家庭关系，